By Kelsey Stewart
For eighty-eight years the Memorial Bridge has served as a vital connection from Portsmouth, NH to Kittery, ME. Since the closing of the bridge in July both businesses and residents of surrounding areas have suffered from the loss of the bridge.
Sam Silver, a Marshwood senior and frequent user of the bridge, said the closing of the bridge has been hard. She explained, “I used the Memorial Bridge a lot. Now that it’s closed, it’s really inconvenient to have to go all the way around, not to mention the bridge was historic, a part of Portsmouth.”
On October 1, 2011 a farewell was held on the Memorial Bridge and in Prescott Park as a thank you to the communities the bridge served. Ninety three year old former Mayor, Eileen Foley was there to tie the ribbon symbolizing the closing of the bridge. As a child in 1923, five year old Foley cut the silk ribbon opening the bridge. The farewell was a celebration and a thank you that included music, food, and conversations on the bridge.
A new bridge is expected to be completed by 2014 and will cost up to 90 million dollars. The new bridge will maintain a historical look and will remain a pedestrian bridge. New Hampshire received a 20 million dollar grant to go into rebuilding the bridge. The other 70 million dollars is expected to be split between New Hampshire and Maine.
Bids to build the new bridge opened on Thursday, October 13th and the bid chosen will be based off of technical merit, scheduling, and price. The apparent team chosen to rebuild the bridge is Archer Western Contracts from Chicago, Illinois. They submitted their bid of 81.4 dollars and an estimated time of completion to be July 2013.
There is also a bid for the removal of the Memorial Bridge. The bridge will be sold in three different parts: the Portsmouth span, the Kittery span, and the lift bridge. The bridge parts will go to whoever makes the best proposal to historically preserve the bridge and there is a minimum bid of 1 million dollars.
While the citizens and business people of Kittery and Portsmouth have said their goodbyes to the Memorial Bridge, they are thankful and are looking forward to the new bridge and having the connection between Portsmouth and Kittery in place once again.
For eighty-eight years the Memorial Bridge has served as a vital connection from Portsmouth, NH to Kittery, ME. Since the closing of the bridge in July both businesses and residents of surrounding areas have suffered from the loss of the bridge.
Sam Silver, a Marshwood senior and frequent user of the bridge, said the closing of the bridge has been hard. She explained, “I used the Memorial Bridge a lot. Now that it’s closed, it’s really inconvenient to have to go all the way around, not to mention the bridge was historic, a part of Portsmouth.”
On October 1, 2011 a farewell was held on the Memorial Bridge and in Prescott Park as a thank you to the communities the bridge served. Ninety three year old former Mayor, Eileen Foley was there to tie the ribbon symbolizing the closing of the bridge. As a child in 1923, five year old Foley cut the silk ribbon opening the bridge. The farewell was a celebration and a thank you that included music, food, and conversations on the bridge.
A new bridge is expected to be completed by 2014 and will cost up to 90 million dollars. The new bridge will maintain a historical look and will remain a pedestrian bridge. New Hampshire received a 20 million dollar grant to go into rebuilding the bridge. The other 70 million dollars is expected to be split between New Hampshire and Maine.
Bids to build the new bridge opened on Thursday, October 13th and the bid chosen will be based off of technical merit, scheduling, and price. The apparent team chosen to rebuild the bridge is Archer Western Contracts from Chicago, Illinois. They submitted their bid of 81.4 dollars and an estimated time of completion to be July 2013.
There is also a bid for the removal of the Memorial Bridge. The bridge will be sold in three different parts: the Portsmouth span, the Kittery span, and the lift bridge. The bridge parts will go to whoever makes the best proposal to historically preserve the bridge and there is a minimum bid of 1 million dollars.
While the citizens and business people of Kittery and Portsmouth have said their goodbyes to the Memorial Bridge, they are thankful and are looking forward to the new bridge and having the connection between Portsmouth and Kittery in place once again.
Memorial Bridge Photo: Compliments of Ms. Renee Liepold
